Wigan 3-1 Chelsea: Yes, It's Not the Other Way Around

We didn’t see it coming, did we?

It was a rude shock considering that the predictions were 3-1 and 3-0 in favour of Chelsea and what we saw was the just the opposite. Ancelotti had to lose his first Chelsea match at some point in time. It had to happen yesterday. Sadly for us, on the day we lost, all our rivals notched their wins.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: Wigan absolutely deserved the win and also the margin to some extent. When I saw the match, Wigan looked more determined and stronger.

They played good football, and induced errors from Chelsea. It was not just Chelsea playing; it was more of Wigan playing their match of the season. But teams like Chelsea get their moment of brilliance and quality and bail themselves out.

That part, however, did not happen yesterday.

The first goal we conceded was shameful. No way someone’s going to put in a header like that in the Chelsea penalty box. There was no challenge on Bramble. No one was really jumping and shoving to make it difficult for them.

We very poorly underestimated them in that corner and we were properly punished. John Terry needs to pull his sleeves up. He is the captain. He is the organiser of the defence. He should take responsibility for such a poor show by the Chelsea defence.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction. We have been conceding some very cheap goals through poor defending this season, right from the preseason. Terry himself has been guilty of some lapses of concentration himself. Remember that goal Stoke City scored against us? Despite all this, since we always manage to outscore the opponent, it was never a big concern.

But now, it has proved costly.

The red card did have a huge impact on the match. To play an away match with 10 players for 40 minutes is difficult. And if that missing man is Petr Cech, you’re going to be concerned.

There are some discussions over the red card and the penalty. I think it was a penalty but to give a straight red was a bit tough on the keeper. Anyway, I have zero faith on Phil Dowd as a referee. He looks like a bloody egoist who loves to make controversial decisions so he can read his name in the newspapers the next day.

When Cech was sent off, Chelsea had to make a substitution. Malouda was taken off and Hilario replaced him. I was bit unhappy that Malouda was taken off. I’m very sure it had to be Anelka. When you’re playing with 10 men, each of these players will have to put in an extra shift, run and work harder and Anelka is not the man I would have on the pitch if I need to play with 10 players.

Malouda must have stayed on, undoubtedly.

Many of our players had a bad game, most notably, Frank Lampard.

It’s not very often he has a game like that. It’s for that reason I won’t slate him. If Lampard is shite, it’s up to the manager to replace him. Lampard is talismanic. He can have his moment any time, irrespective of his form or the stage of the match.

In all this, let’s not forget that Didier Drogba has scored his 100th goal for Chelsea. Great milestone for this Chelsea legend. It’s sad that it had to come in a losing match. It’s a great milestone nevertheless. Hope he goes to touch the 150 goal mark early next season.

Ancelotti has been working on this Chelsea team. He’s getting to know the players. I heard that until the Spurs match Carlo didn’t know about the relationship between Lampard and Harry Redknapp.

He’s learning the language too. His ‘this is football’ phrase is dangerously reminiscent of an ex-manager. He needs to improve his vocabulary so that he doesn’t sound like losing is okay. Of course he didn’t mean it but his poor vocabulary does not help his cause.

This team under Carlo has been going through the cycles. They have now had a winning streak, they have won a match in stoppage time, they have come back to win matches, they have completely dominated teams. The one thing they could not do is to show their resilience after losing a match.

Now, they’ve got that too.

I’ve always had this theory—if you’re losing to rivals, it’s got be a close affair. That’s how you can retain your confidence and keep your momentum. If you’re losing to smaller teams, lose big. Lose by some margin.

That way, the complacency gets destroyed completely.

Let’s cheer the boys, after all, it’s not very often that they lose or concede three goals. And even those teams that lose and concede goals on a regular basis get cheered by their fans. Next week, Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge.

The timing of this defeat might just be helpful.

Look at John Terry applauding the visiting fans, you can see how disappointed he is. Now the blues are a pack of wounded animals. Liverpool, coming from a comfortable and one-sided win, must face the wrath of Chelsea, who were humbled by a bottom half team. It’s going to be a great match next week.

If Chelsea beat Liverpool, all will be forgotten. Bring back Joe Cole, the Liverpool-slayer! It’s bounce-back time!